If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NEW YORK -- Barack Obama will pay NBC and CBS almost $1 million each for the campaign's half-hour ad buy in primetime Wednesday, Oct. 29, less than a week before the election.

According to papers available at CBS's headquarters in New York, the campaign agreed Monday to pay $961,000 for the entire 8-8:30 pm time period. It wasn't clear whether that was in pattern, meaning it would run across all time zones at that period.

But buried a little further in the story is this little gem:

The agreed-upon prices are not what it would cost an average advertiser for a half-hour time buy, which are extremely rare in broadcast network primetime anyway. They are the so-called "lowest unit cost" that is required under federal law.

So it looks like Obama is getting a deal on these advertising spots. Fortunately, at least this half-hour bit will be obviously partisan, as opposed to the regular NBC & CBS programming.